Yoga Retreat: Spring to Life, Oct 25- 27th, 2013

Meditation: Trataka

Trataka

Every day, we live in a world of sensory overload – we take in shapes, colours, forms, signage, sounds, noise, vibrations, pollution, radiation, people, animals nature and increasing amounts of mass media. Most of this information is unseen or subliminal and we are not always aware of this input. The practice of trataka gives us a tool to assist with shutting off this overload and reducing mental and visual activity. This in turn allows us some space to begin managing the many distractions of the mind.

What?

Trataka means to “gaze steadily’ and takes between 5 – 10 minutes a day. This ancient meditation technique involves concentrating one’s gaze on a fixed object or symbol. A very popular object often used in yoga is the candle flame, however, other equally useful choices of object are a single flower, the moon, a star, or a mandala.

Why?

Trataka is an effective, short, simple yet powerful yoga practice.

The aim of trataka is to increase the ability to focus the mind at any time. This is achieved by channeling all our attention to one point so that stillness can be achieved. The action of focusing the eyes encourages the mind to become single pointed leading to a higher state of dhyana (meditation).

More information check out my meditation page.It's number 4 so scroll down.

Niyamas: Tapas

Burning zeal or austerity: What does tapas mean to you?

Tapas is the third niyama and comes after 'saucha' - purity or naturalness and 'santosha' - contenment. It would seem these may well be prerequisites for tapas. After all if you are not content with your lot that is no craving or attachment to practices hoping to derive something from them then tapas could be difficult. 

Tapas is the first word of the second chapter of Patanjali Yoga Sutras. It is the actual doing of or practicing of yoga and thus considered the actual physical practices e.g. asana, pranayama etc. It can be described as Kriya Yoga (purification) and hence involves both burning zeal and austerity. For most of us it is the start of a yoga practice by going to a class and eventually practising on our own.  

Indeed, a popular definition of tapas as 'fiery discipline' and you can see where this comes from when you consider the word tap in Sanskrit can mean to 'burn' - purification through discipline. This makes tapas a very powerful concept. So if yoga is the study of the self with all its habits, patterns and delusions then it could be tapas that can help me to see beyond my own self to oneness. Of course, having said that it does not mean that everything that is difficult or challenging in your yoga practice leads to spiritual enlightenment. Unfortunately for most of us, myself included, when faced with a difficult pose the ego comes out to play either by insisting that we attempt a pose beyond our current or in the moment ability or holding onto or being attached to being able to do a pose, for example, I am an advanced student because I can do.... fill in the pose. You can be doing a simple or basic pose in  deep way and although some of the advanced poses may look spectacular if they are done purely for external appearances then you have wonder why do it: what are the benefits to you and how does this help to make you a better person. If yoga is about in the moment and understanding that everything is interconnected then it does not matter which variation of the pose we are doing it is our attitude to pose and whether we are doing it with respect. 

Yoga is about joy and tapas unleashes the joy through regular practice in a way that is in harmony with our body, mind and spirit. This means tapas can be seen as a practice of consistency...that is just doing it with no attachment to action or outcome. Easy said than done especially if yoga practice helps you relieve or reduce pain in the body. Regular yoga/meditation practice helps you realise that nothing stays the same everything changes. Here in our formal practice you can look with detachment at the antics of your mind.  Getting on your mat everyday, sitting on your meditation cushion and bringing the lessons we learn from our formal practices into everyday life. Now there's  a challenge. Easy said than done especially if yoga practice helps you relieve or reduce pain in the body. 

The following two niyamas can be viewed as an extension of tapas. By this I mean viewing tapas as the physical practice, svadhyaya as the verbal practice and ishvara pranidhana as the mental practice. More on this...

Om shanti,

Margot




  

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Patanjali's eight limbs of yoga: Niyamas - Santosha

                                                        Me in Dancing Warrior: Being content that I can do this

Santosha is my favourite nyama as it offers the possibility of being happy simply. Santosha is the cultivation of inner contentment. Yes that's right being content with yourself just the way you are. And further to this, not holding other people responsible for your happiness but taking responsibility for your own happiness. In western culture we are repeatedly encouraged to believe that we can only be happy with a big house, great car and a fantastic job or is that a career, yet the warmth of sun on your skin, watching birds play or cooking a simple meal for those you love are all simple and beautiful moments in life that lead us easily to being content with what we have. 

Life is full of highs, moments of unadulterated joy, and lows where emotions make it hard to get out of bed in the morning though we do most of the time with the hope the day will get better. Just like life so to is our yoga practice: up and down, some days you pop up into a challenging pose with ease but other days a standing pose like Warrior 11 leads to struggle. The resistance in the body/mind to certain moves or poses is ever changing nothing stays the same, and practising yoga helps us to realise or keep this fact in mind. Our practice allows us to stand strong and be flexible in times of discomfort or challenge not just physically but mentally and emotionally. When life throws us a curved, twisty ball practising santosha makes us stay calm, composed able to be happy and content with the moment possibly even peaceful knowing it will change. Santosha helps us to be okay with discomfort: with a regular yoga practice we can practice being comfortable with discomfort. We accept difficult times as we know deep within at a cellular level that eventually we will move beyond it. 

Santosha helps me to be joyful often and with the smallest actions: a bee on a flower, making breakfast for my partner, washing the dishes and smiling at the world. Being content with less not always desiring more either on the mat or off the mat. I think this is an important concept that gets lost too easily in the modern world. I'm off to stand under a tree gazing at the sky and be happy I'm here breathing, smiling...just being. Flick the switch.

Be be be happy,

Margot